To say that a meeting such as this was unconventional would be a tad bit of an understatement, the Nameless Pharaoh thought. He shook his head and looked around again, eyes darting suspiciously over the sands. A nagging feeling told him this was not only unconventional, but incredibly bad for his health.

He had little doubt that the men he was meeting with probably wanted to kill him, and yet he'd snuck off from the palace to speak to them in secret regardless. How stupid was he?

He shook his head. There was no use thinking of that, now, he was already at the arranged meeting place and he was only waiting on the Thief King and Tomb Keeper Ishtar. Surely they'd show up soon - though, whether or not they showed up armed to the teeth was yet to be seen. He highly doubted they would make their assault quite so obvious to him, but he didn't know them very well. He could be wrong.

And it wasn't as if the Thief King made his animosity toward him secret in any sense of the word.

He shook his head a second time, spotting a red-coated man coming over a rise in the sands. That would be the Thief King, of course. No one else was disrespectful enough to the ways of Egypt to wear that much red fabric. Truly he was a harbinger of chaos in his own right - perhaps even the chaos god Set himself in disguise.

The Nameless Pharaoh would have been in no way surprised to find that was the case, really.

"Ah, Pharaoh." The Thief King gave him what could only be described as the grin of the cat who'd gotten the cream. "I did not think you would come."

"I make a point of attending all councils I am invited to." The Pharaoh said carefully. "Whether they be hosted by my ally or the god of chaos."

The Thief King's grin only widened. "Surely you speak of me and not Apophis or Set when you say that, no?"

"Clever and chaotic." The Pharaoh acknowledged. "A truly worrisome combination."

All he received was a laugh in reply before the Thief King began scanning the horizons. He returned to doing so, as well, not wanting to stare at the man for too terribly long. Hormonal as he was, being a young man with no wife, staring would only lead to issues best left unsaid. He scowled.

The time between their conversation and the Tomb Keeper arriving was tense. The Thief King, despite his wide, shark-toothed grin, seemed uneasy. His eyes flickered around nervously, thumb twisting the ring on his index finger around and around without end. And the Pharaoh wasn't exactly the picture of calm and collected, as the minutes stretched on. His heart began to pound for some reason he was currently incapable of discerning. He didn't think he was particularly nervous, but his body certainly seemed to disagree.

The feeling did not ease in the slightest when the Tomb Keeper finally appeared.

"There you are, Ishtar." The Thief King's grin quickly turned into a scowl. "Took you long enough."

"Life is far too short to rush to meetings, Bakura." Ishtar rolled his eyes. "Though I suppose that's what the two of you did?"

"As the Pharaoh, I've become all too accustomed to rushing about." The Pharaoh shrugged to him. "Now… What is this meeting about, pray tell?"

The sight of the Millennium Rod in Ishtar's hand and the Ring dangling in front of Bakura's chest renewed his feeling of dread and anxiety… And the way their faces lit in sadistic glee in response to the question only heightened it.

"You see, your highness…" Ishtar began, pacing around behind him. The Pharaoh did not turn, because his instincts told him that Bakura was the greater threat and he should keep his eyes on him. "As owners of Millennium Items, like you, yourself are, we know what they can do for us…"

Bakura began to pace around him as well as Ishtar came around front. He kept his eyes glued to Bakura.

"And we are very much interested in obtaining the Pendant from you…" Bakura managed to slip out of his line of sight and surface directly behind him, lips at his ear. "By any means necessary." He whispered gleefully.

"Of course," Ishtar picked it back up, approaching from the front, pressing the Pharaoh back against Bakura. "We know you likely won't just give it to us." He pressed close to him. They were each touching - skin to skin, Pharaoh sandwiched between two of the most dangerous people in all of Egypt. "So we're more than prepared to take it from you somehow."

"We do encourage that you just hand it over," Bakura said, and the Pharaoh tried very hard not to shiver at the feeling of his breath ghosting over his ear. "So what will you do?"

The immediate response that came to Pharaoh's mind was "both of you". Thankfully, he'd had plenty of practice with curbing impulses like that, so he was able to prevent himself from speaking the thought aloud. It was hardly appropriate for a Pharaoh to say such a thing, let alone to his enemies. So he thought about it. Or, at least, he tried to.

Bakura and Ishtar were making it very hard for him to concentrate. Bakura seemed to have taken an interest in nibbling on his ear, and Ishtar was pressing a thigh in between his legs.

Through his hormones and their most likely very deliberate attempts to distract him, he managed to weigh the pros and cons of just giving them the Millennium Pendant. Giving it to them would ensure they probably wouldn't kill him for it, which was a good thing; however, giving it to them would also ensure that they could eventually go on to steal the other Items and one day probably wake up Zorc or Apophis and destroy the world as they knew it. Not to mention, all of his advisors would be furious if he just gave it away, especially to these two.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, metaphorically. Physically, he was stuck between two firm abdomens and both of them had apparently simultaneously decided to wrap their arms around him. It was making it very hard for him to make a decision.

"Answer me this, before I come to any decisions." He was astonished that he managed to sound mostly unfazed by what they were doing. When both of them hummed to show they were listening and intrigued, he inquired, "Why do you want the Pendant?"

"Power." They answered without hesitation.

"I could truly become a King. Raise a kingdom." The Thief King elaborated.

"I would no longer be a Tomb Keeper. I could make my own destiny."

He considered that. "Those are good reasons," He admitted with a sigh. "But I worry what you might do once you've achieved those goals. Or what you might do in order to achieve them."

Bakura sighed into his ear. "I was worried you might say that."

"It's a shame," Ishtar said, "I was hoping to have some fun with you."

"What do you mean?" He hadn't realized he'd closed his eyes until he opened them to look at Ishtar, somewhat alarmed.

"Well, if you were to give us the Pendant… Or at the very least promise it to us," Bakura murmured, running his hands down the Pharaoh's sides, "We were going to reward you."

Ishtar shifted his thigh. It was all the Pharaoh could do not to melt on the spot and moan. "But if you're going to let your morals stand in the way…"

Were his morals really enough to keep him from getting laid, he wondered?

"Who said anything about my morals?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm only worried that allowing you two to achieve your goals will end in me having nothing to rule over. If you kill or take all my subjects or raise Zorc I'm essentially, for lack of a better word, fucked." He allowed them both to snicker at that before saying, "And not in even a remotely pleasant way."

He would not shiver at the sound and feeling of Bakura chuckling into his ear. He would not.

"I suppose he's right, isn't he, Ishtar?"

"He is… Perhaps we should go ahead and have fun with him?"

Oh, that sounded heavenly, really.

"Only if he promises us the Pendant, Ishtar."

"I'll promise you the Pendant if you promise not to destroy my kingdom and ruin my reign."

"Deal." Said both of them.

"Perfect."

Bakura's lips moved from his ear down to his neck and the next couple of hours were probably the best of the Pharaoh's life. He'd never been very submissive, but Bakura and Ishtar were so glaringly dominant that he couldn't help bowing to their whims and letting them have their way with him. They were so much more experienced than he was…

Of course, when they were finished and his sex-addled mind caught up with him, he realized he'd probably just signed his own death warrant.

"So, Ishtar…" Bakura was idly playing with a strand of the Pharaoh's hair. "Was it everything you wanted?"

"Definitely." Ishtar had a leg thrown across both of the Pharaoh's and one of Bakura's. "Was it everything you wanted?"

Bakura hummed, and judging by the way his lips curved upwards, the Pharaoh would assume it was meant to be an affirmative. Ishtar smiled as well, and both of them proceeded to plant kisses on his cheeks. He gave them both a hesitant smile, which made Bakura chuckle.

"He's so cute…" He said to Ishtar.

"I am not cute." The Pharaoh scowled.

"You are." Ishtar said.

He rolled his eyes. "Nice as cuddling like this is," He said as he slowly tried to sit up. "I really need to get back to the Palace." Ishtar moved his legs and Bakura released him from his iron grip. "The staff are surely losing their minds with worry by now."

"Did you not tell them where you were going?" Bakura quirked an eyebrow.

"I didn't tell them I was going anywhere at all." Pharaoh gave him a smirk while he began to dress himself. He hummed thoughtfully. "Now, should I give you two the Pendant now or hold onto it until nightfall?"

"We'd prefer to have it now." Ishtar raised a brow. "Though I suppose you only want to keep it in order to keep up appearances?"

"Of course." He hummed again, "But if I give it to you now I could claim I was kidnapped and robbed." He snickered.

"And raped, I presume?" Bakura gave him a grin.

"Oh, of course." The Pharaoh rolled his eyes. "It was horrible." He made a show of falling against a nearby rock and sobbing. He covered his face with an arm. "I'm so distraught!"

Ishtar and Bakura burst into laughter at the same moment, and something about it scared him. He tried to push it aside as he sat back up and finished dressing. He studied the Pendant for a moment or two. Suddenly, he had an awful idea that he couldn't quite place the source of. He had no reason to want to make these two angry, now - they had an agreement, after all.

"Oh, by the way." Bakura said as he pulled his own clothing back on. "You… Won't be going back to the castle."

Oh. Of course, they intended to double cross him. Instead of letting panic take over, he turned to him and raised a brow. "We had an agreement, Thief."

"We only agreed not to destroy your kingdom or ruin your reign." Ishtar laughed. "Killing you only ends your reign."

Of course, they wanted to kill him. He'd known all along. He'd known he'd fucked up. He merely sighed, outwardly, though inside he was lamenting his idiocy and his raging hormones. "That's a shame." He said, making a show of pouting. "I suppose I'll just have to deal with it and make this hell for you."

They had begun to advance on him, but paused and tilted their heads, glancing at each other briefly, when he took the Pendant off. He gave them a sweet smile, gripped the Pendant by its rope, and swung. It shattered against the rock next to him, and for the next ten seconds or so he enjoyed the resounding crack and the astonished looks on the others' faces.

The satisfied smirk on his face faded in an instant when Ishtar lunged at him. He threw himself to the side as quickly as he could. The sting of the sand left him wondering if it was really worth it to make them angry, and if it was worth it in the slightest for him to dodge. He was only delaying the inevitable, after all. One of them would catch him, and then he was as good as dead.

They were faster than he was. Stronger, too. They had plenty of experience out in the world. Fighting. Killing. Personally, he was pretty much completely inexperienced - the closest thing to a physical altercation he'd ever been in before this was a fist fight with his cousin when they were very young.

Shaking the thought from his mind, he rolled to avoid the blade at the end of the Millennium Rod. He jumped to his feet, ducked under Bakura's arm, and scooped up all the pieces of the Millennium Pendant that he could. He didn't want to slow himself down, but he didn't want them to be able to put it back together without problems, either. He managed to avoid being stabbed by pure luck this time.

He got as far away as he could, realizing he was quite trapped as they were surrounded by rocks and the openings through which he and the other two had come through were out of range… Except for one, a few hundred yards to his left. He could make a break for it, or he could weave back through the two psychotic men in front of him and gather the rest of the pieces of the Millennium Pendant and then make a break for it. Oh, but he'd have to lure them this way first, and they weren't that slow. They'd catch on.

But they were sluggish. They'd tuckered themselves out with him.

How convenient.

Even more convenient was the large swirling vortex that opened between them right as he was about to make a decision. It blocked him from view, but it also kept him from seeing the Thief and the Tomb Keeper. He snuck up to the strange opening and peeked around. Bakura and Ishtar seemed quite entranced by it.

This was his chance.

Maybe if he shoved them through it, somehow, he could gather the pieces of the Pendant and then… Then what? Jump through himself? It sounded like a terrible idea, but maybe in whatever strange place they all ended up they'd be forced to work with him to get out… And then maybe they'd realize they really didn't want to kill him.

It was incredibly farfetched. He almost sighed.

He darted around the portal and Ishtar, and did the first thing that came to mind. He planted his foot firmly against Ishtar's lower back and shoved. Ishtar fell through the portal and disappeared. He did not emerge from the other side. He did not come back through. That was somewhat comforting…

The telltale sound of footsteps behind him urged him to throw himself to the side again.

Bakura couldn't stop himself in time and he, too, fell through the portal.

The Pharaoh waited with baited breath, biting his lip. He counted to 100 in his head. Neither of them came back through.

He let the breath out and stood, heading back over to the pieces of the Pendant.

Once he'd gathered them all, he again considered what to do next. Going through the portal was seeming more and more like suicide every second, but death was better than the shame of telling his advisors and the priests why he'd felt the need to shatter the Millennium Pendant against a rock. He shook his head, held the pieces close, and decided that, yes, he was going through the portal. He didn't care. It was his best bet, for the time being.

If he was lucky, his death would be swift.

He took a deep breath and dived through.

The boy blinked his eyes open, slowly sitting up and looking around. He felt… Well, he wasn't sure. His mouth was dry and his limbs were heavy. He was groggy. Sluggish.

Where was he? Who was he?

Oh, that wasn't good. He didn't know who he was. He didn't know who he was or where he was, but he knew that was a bad thing. He should know his name… But he didn't. Or did he?

He searched his frighteningly blank mind for names. Only one came - Atem. Yes, that sounded right. Atem sounded like it was his name.

It took him another few moments to realize he was being watched. He turned to face whoever it was, coming face to face with a younger-looking boy. His large eyes were crimson, blonde fringe framed his small face. Absently, Atem noted that he, too, had blonde fringe.

"Uh…" Oh. Real eloquent, Atem. He mentally slapped himself. "Hello?"

"Hello." The boy's eyebrows scrunched together. "You feeling okay, 'Tem?"

"... I think I feel pretty okay, yeah. Do you know me?"

"Do I know…?" The boy frowned. "Atem, of course I know you! Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"I'm sure. And I'm also pretty sure I don't know you."

"This… If this is a joke, Atem, it isn't funny." The boy chided, though he seemed to be growing evermore worried. "So stop."

"I'm not joking." Now he scrunched his eyebrow together. "Who are you? Hell, who am I?"

Realization dawned on the boy. "You… You really don't remember me?" Atem shook his head. "I'm your brother. Yami."

"Oh." His attention caught on the large pyramid shaped… Thing. Hanging from a string around Yami's neck. "What's that?"

"Huh?" He glanced down. "Oh. It's the Millennium Puzzle. Ancient Egyptian artifact. Supposedly super powerful. Definitely super coveted." He frowned again. "I dunno why you lost your memory, brother, but all I have to say right now is that we need to get moving before they find us again."

"They?" Atem inquired while he and Yami got to their feet.

"The two psychopaths who are trying to take the Puzzle from me." Yami informed him. "We really need to get out of Egypt…" He muttered as he began to walk, more to himself than to Atem.

Truth was, the boy behind him wasn't his brother. In fact, they'd never even met before. But he looked so much like him he'd taken a wild guess and called him 'Tem - his very own nickname. The boy had responded, but it was yet to be seen if he responded because he thought that was his name or because it really was. Yami wouldn't really be surprised if it was - it wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to him.

And the name 'Yami' had come into his head on a whim. He'd have to make sure he responded correctly to it when it was said from now on.

He glanced at Atem. He really did look a whole lot like him - darker skinned, though. The correct skin tone. The one that Yami really should have had considering his past but he didn't. Yami was pale, incredibly so seeing as he was Egyptian, but Atem looked Egyptian.

He was willing to bet that this boy was the consequence of the last Shadow Game he'd played with Bakura…

"Why do we need to leave Egypt?"

"To get away from the psychopaths."

"... Fair point." Atem sighed. "... How about we try to head to like… Japan or somewhere like that?"

"That's a great idea!" Yami exclaimed. "You're a genius, 'Tem!" It felt so wrong to say that. "They'd never think to look there!"

"Meaning we'd need to get money for plane tickets, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And probably learn the language."

"Yeah."

Suddenly Japan seemed like a terrible idea - or at least a very tedious one. It was still genius to go there. Bakura and Ishtar would never think to look there - not unless they somehow got wind of where he'd gone.

"I'll see what I can do about that." Atem said, and Yami found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, the boy was taking on the role he'd been tricked into believing he fit into. It certainly sounded like something a brother would say… But wait. That meant he was becoming the big brother. "For now, where would we be safe for the night?"

Oh. The sun was setting, wasn't it?

"I know a place." Yami said. "Well, technically, we know a place, but you forgot. I blame Bakura."

"Is he one of the psychopaths?"

"Yeah. Probably the worse of the two, in terms of being a threat." Yami ducked through some alleys. "The other one is just… Nuts. Bakura's smart. Like, really smart. And he's a crafty, clever bastard."

"He's probably got a plan laid out for how he's gonna kill us and take the Puzzle, right?"

"Most likely. Meanwhile, the other one will just go with whatever happens as long as he ends up with the Puzzle in his hands and our corpses on the ground around him."

Atem made a sound that Yami could only describe as the vocal equivalent of a shudder. He could definitely relate.